Tags
advice, anurag, anurag anand, author, career, India, Inspiration, life, life lessons, magazine, relationships, success
At the very onset of my corporate career I was working with a boss that I didn’t particularly get along with. I often found her to be unreasonable, and an age difference of barely a few years drove our egos on collision path every now and then.
This was also the time that I was in the midst of a turbulent romantic relationship. In short, all that could go wrong was going wrong with my life, and this was making me highly irritable and snappy. It was during one of these bad days that my boss decided to join me on the lunch table. I would have preferred solitude to her company, but I wasn’t left with much choice.
“You don’t seem to be your usual self these days. Something troubling you?” she enquired after a while. I evaded the question initially, but the concern in her voice eventually made me open up to her. Or perhaps I had been looking for an outlet to vent out my emotions anyway.
She heard me patiently and offered her two bits on the matter, nothing patronizing, only some simple solicitous words.
This marked a turning point in our relationship. We began to speak a lot more, both of us open to discussing matters pertaining to work and beyond with each other. In her, I found a mentor and a friend that I cherish till this day. Although she is based in a different country now, there is hardly any important career decision that I make without consulting her.
When I look back at our initial days, there are two things that clearly stand out. One, unless I had confided in her on the lunch table that day, we might have remained deprived of this special relationship we share. I have been a bigger beneficiary of it, receiving sagacious counselling and career guidance on demand, and I wouldn’t even have been aware of what I stood to lose but for that one chance conversation.
The second is that like every other relationship in our lives, we need to consciously nurture our relationship with our mentor or coach till it matures. It is only on the foundations of honesty, truthfulness and dedication that such a relationship can sustain. Given that the coach is usually a person higher up in the organizational hierarchy, the onus of initiating and nurturing this alliance rests with the mentee. In my case it was fate that helped me embark on this journey, but that surely won’t be the case always.
And the earlier in our careers we recognize this need and act on it, the more rewards we stand to reap. The process of establishing a circle of trust with a mentor of our choice might require us to overcome several inhibitions and mental barriers, but nevertheless it’s a worthwhile investment in the long run.
First published in Suburb Life Magazine, October ’18 issue!